Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Ultimate Ramen Champion Part III - Gantetsu and Tetsu

Now for the concluding chapter in the ultimate ramen champion trilogy is Gantetsu and Tetsu.

Gantetsu

OrderedSpecial Miso Ramen

Ok, before anything, it took me a while to decide which ramen to choose from, there is Miso Ramen, Miso with Butter and Corn and Special Miso Ramen. Difference between the last two seems to be that special miso ramen has more chashu.

The bowl with its light colors, is the most appealing and soothing out of the bunch to me. Plump and crunchy corn, bamboo shoots, seaweed, 3 slices of chashu, curly yellow noodles all in a miso soup broth. The soup is full bodied with a slightly buttery feel. It is not so strong that I am actually able to empty the bowl without fear of feeling thirsty after. The occasional sweetness from the corn when you bite into them adds a layer of satisfaction to it.

The bright yellow noodles here is also excellent when compared to the rest.

Though the chashu is not as flavorful and tender than Santouka's or Menya Iroha's, or the egg that well done, Gantetsu's ramen excels in the balance of the tone and variety of flavors in the soup and noodle.

Score: 4.25/5.0

Tetsu

Ordered

Paitan Tsukemen

Using pork and chicken here, Tetsu boils them down to high and rich concentration. The dipping broth here has a horrifying layer of oil of about a centimeter.

A Single slice of chashu, Single slice of bamboo shoot and a manhandled egg is thrown into the vessel-clogging dip. The taste is sharper than that of Taishoken where you can taste the ingredients but just like them, it saturates you almost immediately.

20% meat, 80% fat, 0% appetising

Sure a fatty chashu can be nice, but this piece of chashu is as far away from lean as Earth is to the Sun. Tetsu's take on tsukemen is slightly~ more palatable than Taishoken, but I just can't find myself loving the sensation of greasy lips with that mighty thick layer of oil with every slurp.

Score: (-.-)

Overall

This is the end of the Ramen Champion trilogy. There is the "Twin Disappointment" in the form of the twin bowls, but there were some nice and strong contenders around. Have you been there and tried it one by one? Which is your favorite? How do they stack up compared to some of the more famous Ramen places around Singapore?